[Paravati]

I LOVE that picture! It always makes me laugh out loud.

[Evangeline]

It looks like the beginning of pea eye to me, Lynx. Yet another sign possibly pointing to heart.

[Lynx]

Not enough signs of heart problems. I had the vet check her over specifically for this. I wondered also but unless I have something to go on, it looks like she won't be on heart meds.

Stable weight.
No URI's since I got her (she's about 4).
Active.
No problems racing across the room. Does not tire.

Right now her eyes look great though I wondered about them previously. And pea eye and heart problems may or may not be related. It could also depend on the pig.

[Evangeline]

Ok, fine. Just pretend I don't exist.

[Cara]

Pete had ghastly pea eye and no heart issues. Sherman is beginning to get pea eye, I had him check out at the vet to make sure it was pea eye and not something else, no heart issues with him either.

I'm curious, how are pea eye and heart issues related?

[Evangeline]

Some people have noticed a correlation between pea eye and heart problems. The same for bumblefoot and heart problems. From what I understand, a good portion of heart pigs have pea eye and/or bumblefoot. Pinta has had a few pigs whose pea eye problems were dramatically reduced as soon as they went on heart meds.

There isn't anything in books about it, but it is one of the little things that could possibly be a tip the heart isn't working well.

[drsgr]

OK...I give...what's pea eye? I looked it up on guinealinx but couldn't find it...not on search either.
Susan

[Evangeline]

Hi! It's been a really long time. How are you?

Pea eye is when the internal part of the lid swells up and shows. I'll look for a picture.

[lisam]

http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4613&highlight=fatty+eye

Here are some pictures and an explanation.

[Evangeline]

Pea eye
http://www.users.wineasy.se/dan.johansson/eva/mars/care/fattyeye.htm

[Cara]

Ok, E but I want to know more! I'd like to know why the inside of the eyelid would swell when there's heart issues. Bumblefoot, I can understand b/c of the poopr circulation associated with a diseased heart being unable to properly pump blood. But pea eye?

[Evangeline]

Same deal, from what I understand. When a pig has a poor heart, some fluids build up around the heart. Sometimes, fluid also build up in the limbs, since the heart is weak and doesn't pump well. I imagine the same does goes for pea eye. Someone can confirm, though.

Lasix helps get rid of the fluids around the heart and it seems to help pea eye in the same way.

[lisam]

Perhaps is was Pinta who noticed her heart pigs also had pea eye?

[drsgr]

Thanks E! Yes, it's been too long. I'm very well, thanks. I am now teaching high school chemistry online for a cyber K-12 school and since the year is winding down, and I now have a high-speed cable hook-up, I can get back into trouble browsing my favorite spots!
I didn't realize how much I missed all you guys til I logged on.
We (dd Dani & I) still have our 3 guinea pig...Bear died about 18 months ago and we still really miss him.

[Lynx]

Keep in mind all fluid build up (whether or not it would affect pea eye or bumblefoot) is not heart related.

Pinta noticed that her pig (or maybe it was two) with pea eye didn't look quite so bad after receiving lasix. So it may have to do with retaining fluid in her two pigs (I think in her case the one or two pigs did have heart problems). I think some liver problems affect fluid retention also.

[pinta]

Zag had confirmed heart disease(autopsy confirmation) and bad pea Eye. Her Pea Eye completely disappeared once she went on Lasix.

[Lynx]

Here is Cara's pic of Sherman with pea eye. Pinta's is below (I hope)

[Lynx]

Yesterday I noticed one of Nina's toes/toe nails had fallen off. This was on the foot that had been badly swollen.

When the vet cleaned it out, she used a forceps and was fairly agressive, pulling out material, flushing it afterwards. I suspect she did alot of internal damage to the foot itself. It has never been normal, the toes don't spread, it does not resemble the other foot. There are a number of pics on here showing her injury and the healing process. After it was no longer wrapped, the toes all stayed together and did not spread like they do in a normal foot. Gradually old skin fell off and nice clean skin grew underneath. The underside of this foot looks pretty good.

On this right front foot, the right most toe's skin looked hard and crusted. It was the last skin to slough and must have done so with the toe nail. It looks to me like the toe has fallen off but I'm not positive.

I mention this so anyone in a similar circumstance may know that there may be problems associated from cleaning out an infection in a foot.

This is a pic of her normal foot:

[SandraVE]

Lynx, Is Nina walking on that foot? I wonder if the nail will grow back. Did the vet say why her foot/toes don't spread out anymore? Could it be from a lack of good circulation due to the swelling? You did a great job with healing her foot though. Looks pretty good now. I wonder if you gave her a little foot massage after the soak if it would help her toes/foot some?

[Charybdis]

I have seen this before. That is what most of Brownie's toes looked like. There were no nails and just stubs were remaining. She had severe bumblefoot.